It goes without saying that the first order of business is to chitchat the ACC deal.
I'd play any or all of the schools on your "in" and "out" list. I'd broaden the combined list to include Wisconsin, Iowa, Northwestern, Purdue, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas, UCLA, Cal, and the service academies. I'm happy to see us playing any of these teams, and I would be happy to journey to their campuses for games, even to Ann Arbor Michigan.
I'm sort of agnostic about FSU, A&M, and Penn State. It's OK to let them on the schedule from time to time, I suppose. I'd be OK with playing BC as long as it's at home. I would not agree to play them in Boston.
The one team I would expunge from the schedule for all time is Miami. We should not play them. Ever. I would have a hard time agreeing to get into a series with Oregon. My one visit to Autzen during the Faust era was enough. No ND fan should be subjected to those animals. I am tempted to say the same thing about LSU.
they have become respected academic institutions over the last forty years. They are two of the best public universities in the South, especially Georgia, and are both among the top 25 public universities in the country. Georgia in particular is creeping into the UNC/UVA/Florida category. Those two probably don’t have quite the chip on their shoulder that fans had a couple of generations ago.
I used to live in Georgia - and not in metropolitan and diverse Atlanta but pretty rural Georgia - and have spent a decent amount of time there more recently for work, and I’ve never gotten a big anti-ND or anti-Catholic vibe or anything like that. They respected us and our tradition and the way we do things a lot. They fucking hated Auburn and Florida fans, though. I would not want to be on the receiving end of a Cocktail party melee, to put it in other words. Not much different than us - familiarity breeds contempt.
That’s like diet college football atmosphere. Possibly the most apathetic fan base in the game. Tailgating is closer to picnicking, and their students and fans don’t wander over to the stadium until around the middle of the second quarter, if at all.
lands them on this list.
Commentary on the Irish.
...I value the respect we have apparently received from both Georgia and Clemson; but in the latter case, we have a sort of inside track towards such respect. And that Bone is actually a pretty major one that Clemson picked!
The players are great as always, a handful of the coaches demand excellence. The administration is gutless, chasing revenue and not results. I can respect what the stated goal and mission is of ND on the larger scale outside of football. However the people in charge of being stewards of the history of excellence in regards to the football program have failed spectacularly. So much so that even people who used to be die hard fans now are defending moral victories. I’ve never been so dejected about the state and future prospects of the program as I have been today, people are totally stoked about mediocrity.
Sorry. I don't buy into the entitlement argument regarding any respect we should be afforded.
Our legacy is one to build on, not one that entitles us to deference in perpetuity.
In my academic and professional life, 75% of the time I have met the child of a doctor, that person presents themselves as being the child of a respected professional and, regardless of their own professional accomplishments, expects deference by virtue of their winnings in the genetic lottery. Often such persons have done little to build on that legacy, but feel entitled to deference just the same. It's a bizarre, misguided, insular, Peter Pan, kind of arrogance. I call this "doctor's kid" syndrome.
Outside of a museum or sports anthology, no one owes us deference for what we did 30 years ago. That attitude has in fact led to the Disney-fication of our program, and the legions of dumb-ass decisions that have led to our recent legacy.
It's fine to have to be asked to earn respect, especially given all that we have squandered lately, and the complete ass Monk made of the program ("ashamed to be Notre Dame"), and then Jack ("show the world how to do a HC search"), and on and on.
Schedule the best teams we can, regardless of geography. Don't avoid teams that don't naturally feel inclined to give us an obligatory "atta boy" just because they want to celebrate our brand.
on this board ought to be pretty clear.
In fact, it's caused me to become a persona non grata around the athletic department.
It's got nothing to do with "deference."
It has to do with fans knowledgeable enough to realize that Notre Dame, despite wandering in the desert for 30 years, is worthy of respect as an iconic program.
That respect doesn't translate to points on the field, bumps in the polls, points on the betting lines or berths in the playoff field.
Obviously, I'm talking about fans and to a lesser degree, institutions, who have no ability to grant those things, even if they were inclined -- and they shouldn't be.
But we shouldn't be spending our time or money or giving the platform (ho-hum, another record crowd with "irrelevant" Notre Dame in town) to institutions and fan bases that are too fucking stupid to realize and appreciate who we are -- current state of the program notwithstanding.
In fact I think it’s at the base of our current malaise.
...Do you mind saying whether you believe that support for Notre Dame's historic position in college football, and for the idea that this particular part of ND's history deserves respect, is what is at the base of our current malaise?
comes from that which kelly, jenkins and saucy are trying to distance us from...
Creating new traditions, dispensing with old traditions, attempting to make everyone thrilled with 9-3...sell everything in sight...among other crap... it's a total clusterfu** strategy. Throw in a program that was pulverized by the NCAA, a HC who isn't owed the respect of anyone and you've got today's ND.
Respect what we are today because of guys like Joe Montana's legacy... hmm, how respectful has this program been to him? How many lifelong generational season ticket holders were unceremoniously jettisoned without so much as a thank you for decades of support...
I could go on and on, but respect for this current program needs to be earned. We have great kids and failed leadership...
Peeking over the fence and in and looking at the existing regime please tell me where the respect should come from.
PS after Claypool made the play of the game ND started their drive and Finke got tackled and twisted up a bit. It was very sporting to see #26 offer his hand to pull Finke up. Well done.
It’s so weird. We try to sell ourselves as, “we’re Notre Dame! We’re different!” while our actions try to standardize us to the way everyone else does it. We live off our history for purposes of branding/marketing/respect, but don’t seem to care whether our current product matches those standards as long as we were “in the conversation” or close or competitive or whatever.
We’re trying to have our cake and eat it.
teams since 2000.
"New legends..."
Where the hell do these people come from?
We've never won anything, but we're legends. The program used to be run by Giants. Now it's run by phony wannabes.
The Who vs Milli Vanilli...
...history and development of college football as we know it today. It will deserve respect for that aspect of its football history for a long time to come. How much respect the recent and current operation deserves, and how such respect (or lack thereof) is allotted among the characters on the stage, is another question.
I think it's more about being treated with the standard-human-being levels of respect.
...basic respect for other teams fans -- basically, being classy hosts, and classy opponents -- then I have no problem with that.
My statement above was more about respect based on results on the field the last 30 years.
to their hospitality. If ND were still dominant, I would expect more vitriol towards the ND fans. When you expect to win against us, its easier to be less of an asshole going into the game.
with the phenomenon you describe.
It's funny how quickly "hospitable" fan bases turn when long-time doormats start to win a few games.
But our diminished performance on the field hasn't seemed to quell the vitriol at the places on my "out" list.
dicks no matter what!
Home and home again with:
Nebraska
Washington
Oklahoma
Texas
UCLA
Additions:
Auburn
Oregon
Liberty - just to beat the piss out of Falwell Jrs junior college.
matchup.
I’d like them all better when we get a better head coach.
They only play above the Mason-Dixon line once every 20 years.
@ Penn St. 2021
@ Syracuse 2001
@ Nebraska 1981
@ Villanova 1941
Auburn is starting to branch out - has Cal coming in a couple of years. The brutal West Division makes it strategic for the Tigers to not load up in non-conference games (I'm an ND grad so not my philosophy!). Did play Oregon this year.